Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-10-13
THE HORSE FAIR
With Good Track, Good Crowd
and Lovely Weather,
Has q Most Auspicious OpenipR-En.
tertainipR Races Booked for
the Fair This After
boon,

The Wichita horse fair opened yesterday
at the old Riverside park. The heavy rains
of recent date had caused many to fear that
the association would this week play in bad
luck, but the breaking away Of clouds Mon
day evening and the weather conditions OF
Tuesday were sufficient to allay all fears.
The conclusion deduced proved to be happily
true. Never did q fair open under q more
kindly sky and a more lovely temperature
than yesterday. The streets are fast return
ing to their accustomed smoothness, and yes
terday the fine carriages were driven with
little damage to the fine paint. OF course
that feature will improve and by this after
noon the streets will be inviting to the most
costly and elegant turnout in the city.
As is known those connected with the en-
terprise have made the matter q speciality
for some weeks The late date at which it
was decided to hold fair, however, would
| indicate far less preper ations made for the
occasion than are to be seen at the fair today.
The results came from united effort.
II was large. crowd yesterday that was
liz attendance But glance would show a
very diff. rent class Of people from those
sometimes present on similar occasions. 1t
was the best people Of the city that went out
to see the races. The roughnees so frequently
present was happily absent. This feature
seemed to give tone to the occasion and was
not lost in the most exciting races. No one
was heard to ,emsrk that any contest was
not dead square," No insinuation that it
was "set up" for a certain horse to win.
The races themselves were not suggestive of
any such accusations and were fully in ac-
cord with the general feeling Of the occasion
In the latter part of the evening many were
heard to remark concerning the good order
and demeanor Of the crowd.
Near 80 o'clock Pawnee Bill with his In
dams gave war dances, followed by battles
between cowboys and Indians, robbing the
stage coach and other features Of life on the
plains,
Shortly after 2 o'clock the races were call
cd by Mr.. L. G.. Lapham who is starter The
judges were Messrs W. r. Delaney, Frank
A Mason, George o. Dickson, and Mr.. j. N.
Lawson, scorer. Ample accommodations
had been made for the accommodation of
the press, furnishing table for each paper
in the city in the department set apart for
the vice presidents of the association. Ample
seating facilities have been provided for
thousands of people. When all has been
seen one is inclined to wonder how SO mut h
has been made in 40 little time
Near o'clock the first race was called,
which was q special trot for a purse of SlOO
The entries were as follows: Toler's stock
farm, Marquis; d. Mckenzie, Drummer Boy,
s. g.; Lloyd Bros of Burlingame, Brewster,
b. s.; A. NJ. Broner, Rock Island; Bob
Wiley by Robert McGregor. The race was
three in five. 1t wss not until after consid-
cradle scoring that start was effected. The
crowd grew anxious for the race and some
were inclined to yell Ego" without consulting
the judges on the question. Finally they
were started and at the end Of the first half
Marquis was first, Drummer Boy second,
Brewster third and Wiley fourth. AS the
pooling showed Marquis the decided favorite
the sporting men were quite well pleased
with the result so far. Marquis held first
place to the finish, with Brewster two lengths
behind.
Marquis was more than ever the favorite
for the second heat and the
end of the heat showed that confidence had
not been misplaced. He was crowded how
ever by Drummer Boy.
In the third heat Marquis took the lead
from the start and was easy winner COM
ing under the wire in dog trot with Drum
mer Boy and Brewster working hard for
second place which the former captured.